Magic Crown

Camlin's favorite thing in the whole world right now is the Dora story Dora Saves the Magic Kingdom. She has the DVD, 2 copies of the book, and even the TV episode saved on the DVR. The book fair is at school this week and every day that she's walked past the display, she has stopped to hug the book.

While this may sound mildly obsessive to most, we have found ways to utilize this fixation for our own advantage.
1. Camlin decided half way through her hair cut that she didn't want to sit still anymore; the DVD was paused until her little bum was back in the seat.
2. There was a mess of toys in the playroom; we sang the 'clean up' song (from the story) until the room was clean.
3. Bedtime dawdling is a daily occurrence; the threat of no Mermaid story usually does the trick.

By far the cutest part though, is that Camlin has her own Magic Crown, which we decorated together. While it doesn't turn her into a mermaid like it does for Dora, it does bring a certain sparkle to her eyes that can make just about anyone smile.

Family Time

I'm a couple of weeks behind, but I wanted to post some additional pictures from our time we spent recently with Nanny and Auntie Shelley.

We started out with a shopping trip to Virginia Center mall. (There's nothing quite like eating Chick-fil-A on the floor of the mall.)


Camlin played in her paddling pool she got from Auntie Helen. Thanks Helen!


Auntie Shelley made the mistake of allowing Camlin access to her handbag!


Dave and I took advantage of our visitors and had a mini-vacation to Downtown Richmond! We ate at the Hard Shell, stayed at the DoubleTree, and enjoyed breakfast in bed the next morning (a luxury we'd long since forgotten about). Meanwhile, Camlin was entertained at home.


We finished out the visit with an afternoon at Chuck E Cheese.


It was wonderful having family visit and we were sad to see them leave. Now we are counting down to Christmas when Uncle Pete, Auntie Bridgett, Corey and Coral will be here!

Congratulations Dave!

Dave started out his thirties with a bang by getting promoted! After his success as a trainer (specializing this year in management training), Dave's efforts were rewarded with a promotion to Senior Training Manager. Beating out almost 100 candidates, Dave will now manage Data Trainers over a 5-state area! We are so proud!

The Big 3-0!

So Dave turned 30 this week! For the big day, we had Nanny and Shelley (my sister) visiting from England and we all went to the mountains. We stayed in a B&B, had a nice birthday dinner, and Dave and I went horseback riding. Unfortunately, Camlin got bitten by something and had an allergic reaction, so she missed out on the pool play during the afternoon, but had a good time nonetheless.

Camlin's favorite part had to be the birthday cake, for which she sang Happy Birthday perfectly, and repeatedly. (Check out the video below.) She was still singing it as she lay in bed that night.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Below are some pictures from the trip.

Final Braves Game

For Labor Day this year, we attended the last ever Richmond Braves game. It was a sold-out game and despite not being baseball fans, it was a good time. Camlin especially liked strutting her sassy self around in her sunglasses, necklace, and bracelet while she carried her purse. Too cute!

Book Blanket

A couple of weeks ago, Camlin decided that Daddy needed to be covered up with books (as he was cold). Oh to have the imagination of a 2-year old!

A Birthday Wish

Today is Nanny's birthday! Happy Birthday Nanny - we wish you lots of love on your birthday and we can't wait to see you in 10 days!

Playing Catch-Up

So a few weeks have passed without a word. This is partly due to our busy schedule as well as the fact that my employer has now blocked this site from our Internet!

Nothing too exciting has happened recently. The weeks have flown by with too much work to do, a trip to West Virginia, and lunch time swimming lessons with Camlin. Our weekends have been spent at the pool and preparing for our upcoming visitors.

Camlin has filled these hours as a typical two-year old: a perfect angel one minute; a little devil the next. Below I've posted some of the more angelic moments.

Here she is feeding Dora a bottle.


Here she is 'working' on her Blackberry.


And here she is singing and dancing!

"I'm a Big Girl Now"

In an effort to support Camlin's plight to wear only big girl underwear (at which she is doing incredibly well), we have encouraged her by telling her that she is a big girl now. Unfortunately, she is smart enough to realize that being a big girl can transcend into other areas of her life. This has included swimming on her own in the pool, walking down stairs without holding hands, fastening her car seat straps unassisted. Actually, any instance where she doesn't want help, "[she's] a big girl now"! I assume this won't be the first time a parenting skill will backfire.

Potty Update

The question we are asking ourselves today is: Could Camlin really have potty trained in one day?

Camlin went all day yesterday without an accident. I put a pull up on her for nap time but she woke up dry and immediately went and peed on the potty. At one point we were outside while Dave was grilling dinner and she sneaked inside by herself. I went looking for her and found her sitting on the potty clapping, "I pee peed on the potty, yay!"

So, off she went to school today in her big girl, Dora underwear, and two extra outfits packed in her backpack. My fingers will be crossed all day ...